CIN BLOG ENTRY: Mr. David Shepherd

This is another one of those charming 2 entries in 1. The subject matters are related.

One of the coolest things to come out of working in Improv, in Chicago, these days, is that the founders of the artform are mostly still alive. An interested student could travel North to Michigan and spend a week training with Paul Sills. Or travel to Belchertown, MA, to spend some time learning from David Shepherd. (The two of them opened the worlds first Improvisational Theater, here in Chicago, in 1955. It started out as a theater, whose gimmick was "A new, original play, every week" and eventually morphed to involve more of Spolin's games, as the demands of writing a new show, every week wore the whole company down.)

One of my duties in the Spring of 2005, was to act as the Chicago Improv Festivals liaison with Mr. David Shepherd, while he was in town. For one week, he traveled the city, catching shows, giving out awards, enjoying cocktails with old friends, and casually sharing stories about the Golden Days of Improv with anyone who wanted to listen. In his career, David has worked with Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Alan Alda, Del Close, Alan Arkin, Ed Asner and tons of others well known celebrities. He also opened ImprovOlympic, here in Chicago, in the 80s.

So, he has a lot of history to share. Spending a week with him is like touching the past, in a very tangible way. Hearing these names dropped in a very casual way. It makes an impression on you, as an improviser. You feel connected to the first days, in a very real way. It has definitely affected how I feel about the Improv that I see and gotten me much more proactive in the community.

Since that festival, he and I have stayed in touch. I helped him design a show that he presented in Belchertown about the impending fue shortages. We are currently at work, designing a video and lecture series for him to tour the colleges and festival circuits, sharing the history of improv with students, all over the country. Its a labor of love. On the one hand, if it happens and he gets a steady income from it and gets to travel more, then that would be good. On the other hand, if it doesn't happen, then at the very least, he has a project that he and I have worked on that keeps him very active these days. And at the age of 83, being active is, in and of itself, a triumph.





This picture is from The Compass, the theater that I mentioned above. On the left, Andrew Duncan plays a funny dressmaker, designing a dress for Barbara Harris, David (age 30) is on the right. That picture was taken in 1955.

These are the two CIN blog entries that I wrote about David. The first is just an announcement that I met him. The second is how I actually met him.



Cleared for Discussion.
06:29pm 03/20/2005

I talked to Jonathan Pitts and I am cleared to blab my guts out about it.

I am spending three days with David Shepherd, at the end of April. If you know who David Shepherd is and what he means to Improv, then you can well imagine that I am SUPER excited about this.
If you don't know who David Shepherd is, then be aware now of a gaping hole in your knowledge of Improv History. Go out and get yourself some learning. I can reccomend some books, if that would help.

Yeah, so there you go.

David Shepherd and his lovely wife.

Very exciting.

I say this not in a "Nyah nyah, I get this and YOU DON'T" sort of way, but in a "Hey man, isn't this freaking cool, sort of way." If I found out someone else was spending time with him, I would be just as thrilled for them. And would also likely harass them about the experience.

So there you go, there's my cool ass news.

Back to the drafting table, where I am earning the right to spend some time with Mr. Shepherd. By drafting the Mainstage set.

Cheers,
COB

Added to that hopeful, excited blog entry, here is an accurate retelling of how I actually met David.


Shepherding.
10:41am 04/28/2005

This is a nearly accurate account of how I met David Shepherd.

Yesterday, I walked over to David Shepherds hotel, after work. I brought him a carton of Orange Juice and some Granola bars, per his request. I intentionally delayed in the Walgreens, purchasing his items, because I knew that if I got there too early, he would be stuck with me, until Jonathan Pitts arrived to drive us to the show that we were seeing. So, I dallied at the Walgreens and killed a little time. I didn't want to be a burden to him.

I arrived at his hotel and went up to his floor. Immediately upon exiting the elevator, I was staring RIGHT AT an upside down picture of the ocean. Above it, hung two brackets, clearly intended to support the picture. Apparently it had fallen and was hanging by the bottom support.

I put down the juice and the granola and righted the picture. By tilting it and turning one of the top brackets, I managed to set the picture right and was still standing there, making sure that it was set, when the maintenance guy walked up to me.

"What's going on?" he asked, suspiciously.

"Are you here to fix the picture?" I asked. I was to embarrassed to be found there in the hallway, man-handling one of their pictures.

"Someone complained that it was upside down." he eyeballed the painting which CLEARLY was right side up. He glanced down the hall, to see if he could find some OTHER upside down picture.

"This is the one. I just tried to fix it." I said. I slid it to the side and showed how precariously it was in place.

"Why did you try to fix it?" he asked, pleasantly, going to work on it. Things were back on track for him and he was ready to dismiss me.

"I don't know. It needed fixing, I guess." I picked up the sack of juice and granola and walked down the hall to David Shepherds room, feeling like a Grade A dummy. I checked my cell phone and we had 40 minutes until jonathan was to arrive. That was enough time to pass, I thought, without being TOO MUCH time.

I knocked on his door.

"Come in" he yelled.

I tried the door. It was locked.

"Hold on a sec," he said. I waited and in a second or two, I heard the door knob turning. A little old man, slightly stooped with age was there, on the other side of the door. He wore his winter parka and neatly pressed navy cordouroy pants. (I came to find out later that he wore his coat because his room was too cold. It was too cold because someone had left a window open, behind the thick curtains. We closed it and the room warmed up a bit.)

His hair was thin and a bit askew, longer around the crown of his head. A small ponytail at the back. His beard was white and neatly trimmed. He wore thin glasses and his eyes were as intense as those of a much younger man. He clearly had all of his faculties about him. And was sizing me up.

"Oh. You're bigger than I expected." he said.

"You're smaller than I expected."

"Well. I'm shrinking as I get older. Come in." and he invited me into his room. He turned away, knowing that I would follow him in.

And THAT was how I met David Shepherd, yesterday.

There are more stories to tell, I am sure. We spent 6 hours together yesterday and saw a show and walked back to his hotel from the Cultural Center, stopping to get dinner together. We talked a little bit about the birth of improv and about some of the people that we mutually knew. As it turns out, we have similar tastes in the styles of improv that we like to see. He asked about my theater projects and I asked about his and he discussed the dream he had for the future of improv. All told, it was a pretty sharp idea, but I'll let him tell you about it, some time. It is, after all, his idea.

I just wanted to get the meeting part down on paper before I forget it. The part where I was SO NERVOUS about meeting him, that I re-hung pictures at the hotel, to avoid embarrasing myself.

Like a Grade A dummy.